The Memoirs of a Renegade
by legendslayer222
Summary: Set Between 'A Day in the Death' & 'Something Borrowed'. Jack meets a mysterious yet skillful woman called Winters, who has aliens haunting her past & future...
1. Prolouge

Prologue

There was Jack. There was Gwen. There was also Ianto, Owen & Tosh. They made up Torchwood 3, the Cardiff, Wales division of Torchwood. Torchwood 1 was London, England & Torchwood 2 was Scotland, somewhere no one was really sure where was. Torchwood 4 was missing.

Back to the story of Torchwood 3. It wasn't a big complex organization, made up of five members who worked in the Hub (a giant base under the tower in the Roald Dahl Plass) to control the flotsam & jetsam that drifted through the rift into Cardiff. The rift itself was created long ago in the past when a weak spot between dimensions was opened then exploded. The five members thought they did okay despite their small numbers, & none of them really needed or wanted a sixth member.

Oh well, things like that can just happen without you choosing.


	2. Chapter 1, Winters

Chapter 1, Winters

Jack walked down the freezing high street. Frost was on the pavement, & his breath was misting in the air. He rubbed his hands together & shivered. He put his finger to his earpiece to activate it to call the Hub.

"Jack here. Is Tosh on the line…?" He queried.

"Er… Not currently." Ianto's voice replied through the earpiece system.

"Where is she?" Jack asked.

"Here!" Tosh said into her earpiece, a bit flustered.

"Where were you?" Jack said.

"Dealing with that thing you brought in yesterday." Tosh said.

That thing had been weird. It was a sort of glass ball filled with water, & their was a pulsating green rock in the centre.

"I've run all kinds of tests on that thing," Tosh said, "But I can't see what the rock thing is."

"Ok." Jack said. "I just need to know if I'm reaching the location."

"Left turn now." Tosh said, steering Jack into the right direction through the earpieces.

To his left was a dark alley. It had a brick wall one end, & a chain link fencing the other end. He climbed over this. Once he was on the other side, he could see slumped bodies, homeless people under newspapers & rags, gathered like some kind community. There was an old steel bin which was full of ashes; it must have usually held a fire. Now it was out & a small trail of smoke billowed around the sleeping tramps.

This was definitely where the rift burst had happened. Jack carefully walked past the resting people, stopping to shake off a drunkard asking him for a loaf of bread.

Above him on a rusted yet sturdy metal balcony someone watched him. This was a good vantage point, as all you had to do was climb up the pipe to reach this place. They had lived around this alley long enough to learn every little vantage point. They could also guess what this dark haired man in the WWII coat was after. They kept quiet & watched him go further into the alley.

Jack was beginning to feel unsure that this was the right place. The ally seemed a lot longer than he had expected, & he was seeing that the homeless people were getting restless. Past another burnt-out barrel. There were no people in this bit of the alley. It had gone from quiet murmurings & old newspapers to what looked like another alley entirely, this one empty.

Jack could see what was stopping the homeless people from wanting to go to the end of the alley. There were two mangled bodies lying up here in pools of blood.

"Tosh. Found the disturbance. I've got two bodies up here." Jack said. "I'm about to check them out."

He searched the bodies for about ten minutes, the person above him watching amusedly. Jack got up & scratched his head. "I can't see what done this to them. It looks like they have been caught in the edge of an explosion." He muttered to himself, shaking his head. "Maybe I should get Owen."

"It was an explosion." Somebody said from above him.

"Howe can you hear what I'm muttering?" Jack said, wheeling around, Webley revolver at the ready.

"I'm above you." The voice said, guiding Jack to look up. Someone was sitting on a metal balcony above him, peering over the edge. She had silvery white hair & a splatter of noticeable freckles on her face. She wore scruffy jeans & a t-shirt, covered with a battered brown overcoat.

"Who are you?" Jack asked.

"Winters." She replied.

"Odd name." Jack said.

"Oh? & what's yours?" Winters queried.

"Captain Jack Harkness." He replied.

"Why would you be interesting in this massacre?" Winters said.

"It's connected to the rift. Big thing in Cardiff. You can't miss it." Jack joked.

"& I guess you want to know what caused the explosion?" Winters asked.

"Yes."

"Because the rift must have dropped some explosive thing off here?"

"You catch on quick." Jack said. "It'd be useful to have more people like this in the city." He added under his breath.

"Why thank you." Winters replied.

"How can you hear what I mutter under my breath?" Jack asked.

"Out on the streets. I get plenty of time to hone my senses. I could see you were heading to this ally long before you get here."

That was skill, Jack thought. Quick thinking, accurate senses. Was she an alien? Maybe she was the thing that the rift had dropped off! In that case, was she explosive?

"Are you an alien?" Jack asked. "Are you explosive?"

"No, I'm a human." Winters replied. "& I don't tend to blow up. Except when I'm really pissed." She said, winking.

"Well… What did cause the explosion?" Jack asked.

Winters slid something from her coat pocket. It looked exactly like the object Tosh had except the glowing rock was purple. "One appeared either end of the ally. When they were touched together down there the green one was rocketed into the sky. I meant to go & find it, but judging by the look on your face, I guess you have it."

Winters leapt down nimbly in front of Jack. "I suggest you keep it away from the other one."

Jack reached out for it, but Winters snatched her hand back. "Tell my why you're so interested in this rift first."

Jack shrugged. "Ok. Keep the thing then. You're not going to get information out of me." He was determined not to let himself be outsmarted by this homeless person.

"Are you… Part of some sort of society?" Winters said.

Jack was once a conman. He could easily put on a face to say no, & then he could get the hell out of there. "No. Freelance. Collecting rift junk."

"Nice car, by the way. I'm guessing you drive the big black thing with Torchwood written on the side?" Winters grinned.

Winters three, Jack nil. Or was it more than three for Winters? He'd lost count.

"So the rumours about Torchwood are true. You really do see aliens." Winters slowly paced towards the bodies, lost in thought. "You could probably help me." She shook her head. "The reason I first came to this place is I thought you could help me."

She turned around, & looked Jack in the eyes. She looked like she was on the verge of tears. "When they came, I was only a child." She looked away. "They took everything I had." She sighed, & pulled herself together. "So! Torchwood base! What's that like?" She was striding off, sliding the alien object into her pocket. She got to the fencing at the end of the alley & was about to climb over, when Jack was stopped.

"She's not taking that." An unshaven old man said, pulling on jack's leg, & looking wild & rough & serious. "It killed the others back there. You went & saw them." He rose to his feet, brandishing an empty bottle.

"We'll look after the object. It won't explode anymore." Jack said, trying to walk away.

The man grabbed his shoulder. "You won't get away." He said, raising his voice. "You people, you have a nice warm bed to sleep in! What do I have to keep warm? Newspaper & a heap of my shit." He started yelling, smashing the end of the bottle on the wall, holding the edge of broken glass on Jack's throat. "YOU WON'T STEAL IT ALIVE!"

The man raised the bottle above his head, but it was blasted out of his hand, accompanied by the sound of a gunshot.

"Move, Jack." Winters said, dragging Jack away from the enraged man.

"Where did you get that?" Jack said, indicating the silver pistol held firmly in Winters hand.

"Oh, this old thing?" Winters said. "It was in Asda, half price." & with that, she flung herself over the iron link fencing, Jack wondering how she did it.

"How do you do all that?" Jack said.

"Most homeless people waste their lives." Winters said, running to the SUV, avoiding the broken bottles & loud swearing being hurled at her & Jack. "I take advantage of the situation. Map the streets out in my head. Train myself like an acrobat, a spy & a soldier."

"Ok. Into the side seat." Jack said, opening the driver's door for himself.

"Can't I drive?" Said Winters, putting on a sad puppy-dog face.

Damn. She'd learnt every trick in the book.


	3. Chapter 2, Caught on Camera

Chapter 2, Caught on Camera

"Don't go over the speed limit!" Jack screeched bumping about in the seat next to Winters.

She was sitting in her seat, swerving wildly across the road.

"Do you have a licence?!" Jack said.

"When would I have had the time to take a test?" Winters said.

"At least slow down when we go past the police station, for Christ's sake!" Jack yelled. Why had he let Winters drive?

Winters dropped down from 84 to 31 mph sharply, making Jack thwack his head on the dashboard.

"Sorry." Winters muttered, cruising casually past the police station. When they passed the corner, the speed leapt up to 76 mph.

"Have you got any sodding clue what the words 'law abiding' mean?!" Jack said, as his head hit the window.

"Nah. Who needs law abiding?" Winters said, slapping the wheel into a 170° turn.

*

The SUV stopped in a car park nearby the entrance to the Hub.

"Visitor's entrance." Jack said, stepping on a paving slab with Winters, letting it take them into the bowels of Torchwood 3.

"Nice." Winters said, looking at the sci-fi décor. There were large computer desks & the huge concrete pillar fitted with the rift manipulator, the railings leading to the bay water below, the autopsy room, the board room, the room full of alien plants, & the desk full of alien artefacts, including the globe of water with the green rock.

Jack walked up to the man in the posh suit coming to greet them. "This is Ianto. Ask him for your coffee." Jack said.

Winters was more of a tea drinker, but she decided to smile along anyway.

"That is Toshiko." Jack said, indicating a Japanese woman, "If you wouldn't mind giving her the alien object in your pocket…"

"Don't let it touch the other one." Winters called over to Tosh, lightly chucking the purple rock orb over to her.

Tosh looked at it for a few seconds, and then turned to Jack. "Who is she?"

"This is Winters." Jack said. "Homeless person who thinks we might be able to help her with something. I'm just giving her the guided tour of the Hub first. Ah! This is Gwen!"

Jack directed Winters towards the black haired welsh woman greeting her.

"Owen is our doctor." Jack said, pointing to the man working hard in the autopsy room.

"I'm team leader" Jack said.

"Well. Five of you. Not exactly a super squad of alien fighting armies." Winters said. "But I bet you do a pretty good job."

"Come on to the board room. We need to talk about your problem." Jack said. Gwen followed Winters & Jack to the board room table & the three of them sat down.

"You said they took everything you had when you were a child." Jack said.

"Yes." Winters said slowly. "I was… seven, I think. I was living in a house… I can't remember where that was. It was fifteen years ago."

She reached in her coat pocket. The tape was still there. She remembered all those years ago. The family film they were making. The whole event had been caught on camera.

At some point, Winters had turned the film into sepia. Had she done it for effect? So she could convince herself it was long in the past? Because she couldn't stand the violent colours, the blood on the wall? She didn't know anymore. She had long ago sold the camera that it was filmed on. Not that the money had got her far. But she still had the tape.

"Do you have anything to play this on?" Winters said, slowly bringing the tape into Jack's view.

"Sure." Jack said, taking the tape and putting it into a slot under the board room screen.

An image lit up.

Two happy parents with a smiling child. The mother looked a lot like winters, white hair, same expression & face shape. The father had dentist perfect teeth, & looked to have had bleached-blond hair, but it was hard to see though the sepia. The child was Winters.

"Why is it sepia?" Gwen asked. She didn't get an answer, so they just kept watching the film.

They were filming some special occasion. Judging by the tinsel laden tree, it was Christmas. Winters was opening a present. It was a small tin vase, with Greek carvings on the side. Winters had been obsessed with Greek things at that age. One of those childhood crazes.

She still had the vase though. It was in her coat pocket now. Her father's coat pocket. She had taken his coat from the house after…

Although the film audio quality was terrible, Smashing could be heard.

"Hold on." Winters's dad said. He walked off through the house. Winters & her mother were still sitting in front of the camera, her mother looking concerned.

"What?" Winter's father said, away from the camera. Whoever he was talking to couldn't be heard. "Hold on then." He said, running into view of the camera.

He hushed his voice, leaning in close to Winter's mother. "They're coming. Like you said they would. We were free for eight years, but they came."

"Winters, can you go into the cupboard, in the corner? Be very quiet, & you'll be safe." Winter's mother hugged her daughter, & sent her into the cupboard. After Winters was safe & out of sight, her mother got out a gun. The same one Winters had with her now. Her father crouched behind the door, carrying a wooden chair.

Heavy footfalls were thudding against the floorboards just outside the room. Whatever they were, they must have reached the doorway, because Winter's father sprung up & smashed the nearest one in the face with the wooden chair.

A gunshot echoed, & Winter's father fell wounded to the floor, bleeding through a shot to his stomach.

"He is not who we want." A grinding, alien voice said. "We want the Advancer."

Winter's mother was standing, pointing the gun at whatever it was lingering just out of sight of the camera.

"Give yourself up." The aliens said. "Or we kill the man by shooting him through the head. As he is, he may… survive."

"Ok." Winter's mother said, hesitantly throwing the gun to her feet & raising her hands above her head. She walked to the aliens. A clawed hand in a dark red glove game onto the screen & grabbed Winter's mother's arm, dragging her out of the camera's view. The thudding alien footsteps left.

"Winters." Her dad wheezed painfully, "It's time to come out."

Winters came out of the cupboard & ran to her bleeding father. "Daddy! What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, sweetheart." Her father said. "Mummy's gone. You might see her again someday. But me… Winters. Just remember, mummy & daddy always loved you." He coughed out a few specks of blood, & became still.

In the video, Winters picked up the gun. She had seen such things in films. Not that she knew how to use it. She was frightened. That day she was more frightened than anything that would ever happen to her again. She took her father's coat, & remembering the camera, she took the tape. & ran.


End file.
